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Judy Bonds, Presente

“Fight Harder“
-Judy Bonds

We’re mourning the passing of our friend Julia “Judy” Bonds. She was a
mother, a grandmother, a coal miners daughter a national leader in the
mountaintop removal abolition movement, a director of Coal River
Mountain Watch and a community organizer.

She’d been diagnosed with a very serious case of cancer back in the early summer.

Yesterday, on January 3rd 2011, she passed away.

I remember the first time I really spent time with Judy. RAN
organized an action at Powershift 2007 with her. At the action, 300
youth and coalfield residents shut down a Washington D.C. Citibank branch (major funder of coal and mountaintop removal at the time.)

You can watch the video here of her and other coalfield residents
talking to the branch manager before our march arrived, and see her
speaking to youth about being the future and leading our movements for
clean water, clean air, clean energy and an end to mountaintop removal.

I’ve spent the past four years traveling around the eastern parts of
the U.S. to actions, marches, conferences, camps and workshops where I
often worked with Judy and was proud to call her my friend, hero,
comrade, inspiration and leader.

Her co-director at Coal River Mountain Watch and friend Vernon Haltom remembered her like this:

“Judy endured much personal suffering for her leadership. While
people of lesser courage would candy-coat their words or simply shut up
and sit down, Judy called it as she saw it. She endured physical
assault, verbal abuse, and death threats because she stood up for
justice for her community.“

The
last time I saw Judy was last March on the morning of RAN’s tripod
occupation of the lawn of the EPA. We had been at Mountain Justice
Spring Break in southwest Virginia. We got up early to watch the action
via the internet and support the RAN team who occupied the lawn of the EPA and call for an end to mountaintop removal.
When I showed her the pictures of the action, she was beaming with a
big smile and much excitement as the fight to end mountaintop removal
had become a national issue and been taken out of the hills and hollers
of Appalachia into offices of the power-holders in Washington D.C.

After she’d gotten sick, youth, allies and coalfield residents
organized the “thousand hillbilly” march on Washington (also known as Appalachia Rising)
that Judy had always dreamed of. While we sat in and awaited arrest in
front of the White House, we called her and left messages of love and
support. We missed her that day.

Tonight I’m sad and mourning Judy, but also celebrating her life and
fight to the struggle for justice in Appalachia. When they write “The
People’s History of the 21st Century,” Judy will prominently featured
in the chapters on mountaintop removal and Appalachia.

I’ll end this essay with more of Vernon’s words:

“Judy will be missed by all in this movement, as an icon, a
leader, an inspiration, and a friend. No words can ever express what
she has meant, and what she will always mean. We will tell stories
about her, around fires, in meeting rooms, and any place where people
are gathered in the name of justice and love for our fellow human
beings. When we prevail, as we must, we will remember Judy as one of
the great heroes of our movement. We will always remember her for her
passion, conviction, tenacity, and courage, as well as her love of
family and friends and her compassion for her fellow human beings.
While we grieve, let’s remember what she said, “Fight harder.”